In 1969, this is regarded as the start of the gay movement. During a routine raid of Greenwich Village’s Stonewall Inn (a bar with various people who were usually discriminated against and were minorities: Black and Latino drag queens, students, homeless youth, hustlers and transgender patrons) by the New York City Police Department, a riot broke out. Demonstrations then started happening the nights after and for subsequent nights throughout the week as. New York’s LGBTQ community, which had long been the target of discrimination and persecution, finally said enough is enough. After the raid and the demonstrations, this signaled a new era of freedom and it is known to symbolize the birth of the Gay Liberation movement. For the next decade, little by little, there was recognition and attention given to the gay community. In 1980, in Toronto, this was when gay rights emerged as an actual issue. This was going on during the HIV/AIDS crisis at the same time. In 1981, over 1000 people died from AIDS related illnesses. The fact that there was mass panic about gays, and that president Reagan wouldn't even say the word AIDS led to the rapid radicalization within the LGBT movement. What threatens the movement right now is the stagnancy of rights given to that community with our current administration and social taboos still evident with them.